Alright, this is the last review for tonight! This was again at the Regency like Amon Amarth the previous week. However, the place was at maybe half capacity, and there were very few young guys there. The crowd was mostly made up of slightly older metalheads who were there for Sabaton and Dads who knew them as the "Balls to the Wall band" back in the day. I felt like I was more at Blue Oyster Cult concert just from the sheer amount of regular everyguys there.

Sabaton was a FANTASTIC opener. Their singer was all over the place and so animated, and super appreciative of the audience who they clearly won over. By the end of the set, the audience was chanting their name. Their music was way slower than I thought it would be from what I heard, but I loved it regardless. It almost reminded me of more recent Blind Guardian albums where they emphasize the epicness. Accept had a lot to live up to, and they most certainly matched it.

Accept were far greater than I was expecting. I love Blood of the Nations, hell, I listen to it more than Balls to the Wall (before the ragefest begins, Restless and Wild will always be my favorite Accept album ever, so don't think I'm too crazy). To me the album is a lot more kickass and in-your-face than Balls to the Wall. The band surprisingly kept the stage banter to a bare minimum. Hell, Peter Baltes talked to the audience more than Mark Tornillo did, and all he did was say "Hey guys I'm from Philly, you guys got to be louder than them" or something to that effect. Wolf's solos did tend to drag during the tremolo wank bits, but Peter's bass solo was surprisingly badass. Mark really put a cool spin on the classics with his voice, he made them have a lot more of a classic American metal vibe instead of the German weirdness that Udo sometimes gave off. I would seriously love to see a live album sometime soon just to document their new sound. Highlights were Monsterman, Aiming High (which I heard for the first time and absolutely loved), Metal Heartvand of course FAST AS A FLIPPING SHARK. My only problems setlist-wise were no Midnight Mover and Head Over Heels (the latter probably won't happen sometime soon since it hasn't been played at all by the present lineup), and all of my favorite tracks from Blood of the Nations were ignored.
Beat the Bastards- Nope. How are they not opening with this, it would be so perfect!
Locked and Loaded- Ain't happening apparently
The Abyss- Come on, it's their single, why AREN'T they playing it?!
No Shelter- Goddamn it, this ain't cool, every show on the last tour got it but not this one.
The other tracks that were played came off well enough, but the new album has so many asskickers like the aforementioned tracks, that any of them would have really given the set a boost of energy. By the end, I was damn impressed. They clocked in at an hour and 50 minutes with nearly zero breaks between songs, bare minimal audience interaction (which pretty much consisted of the Balls to the Wall bridge chant). Yeah, there was a guitar solo that was a little boring, but Peter's bass solo and Wolf and Peter's guitar and bass duel was fun, and Wolf's extended solo during Metal Heart was admittedly pretty awesome. After the show, my ears were extremely numb. Even though the show didn't seem too loud, I guess I just taxed them too much with three concerts in 7 days. Sadly, the worry of damaging my ears, along with an extreme lack of sleep and a cold led me to missing Destruction the next day.

I saw them at The Galaxy Theater in Santa Ana a few days after you (5/1), and the crowd was definitely not like the one you described in S.F.

The place was PACKED, even though it was a Sunday night.
And although there were a lot of older metalheads and "Dads" there, as you put it, there were also a LOT of younger metalheads who wanted to see what Accept was all about.
Accept definitely DID NOT disappoint one bit. EXCELLENT show!

And I COMPLETELY agree with you about Wolf's facial expressions. That dude is GERMAN personified! Gotta love Wolf Hoffman!!

To anyone reading this: Go see Accept if you get the chance. You WON'T regret it!

I saw them at The Galaxy Theater in Santa Ana a few days after you (5/1), and the crowd was definitely not like the one you described in S.F.

The place was PACKED, even though it was a Sunday night.
And although there were a lot of older metalheads and "Dads" there, as you put it, there were also a LOT of younger metalheads who wanted to see what Accept was all about.
Accept definitely DID NOT disappoint one bit. EXCELLENT show!

And I COMPLETELY agree with you about Wolf's facial expressions. That dude is GERMAN personified! Gotta love Wolf Hoffman!!

To anyone reading this: Go see Accept if you get the chance. You WON'T regret it!

That's awesome to hear! When I saw Amon Amarth a few weeks back, the crowd was half the reason I had so much fun, it definitely makes a difference. It's not that S.F. had a bad crowd per se (barring the half capacity), just a different one than I was expecting.